balance issues
by Ju5t An0th3r H3d63h06
Summary: or the one where Rosa teaches Hugh how to dance. —postgame, sequel, oneshot. {for sumrandomperson12}


**a/n: Typed this out in half an hour as a goodbye present. The Mudkip is going on hiatus/vacay for two weeks, so here's something for you to read while I'm gone. :) I'm going to miss all of the lovely people who think my writing is worth reading! **

**Dedicated to SumRandomPerson12 because she suggested the idea of Hugh unleashing his dancing. This one's all for you, SRP. :D**

**Disclaimer: Please tell me I don't have to do this every time…**

* * *

"You're kidding me, right?"

Rosa Blanc stares at her best friend in wide-eyed shock, an expression of faint horror on her face as she covers her Xtranceiver cam with one hand. "You're kidding. Please tell me you're kidding."

"No, I'm not kidding!" The cobalt-haired Trainer scowls and crosses his arms. "It's not that big of a deal, you know. Lots of people can't."

"But you can do everything!" replies the petite brunette, cerulean eyes wide. "You can cook, you can build things, you can battle, you don't trip over air-"

"You're the only person I know who can trip over air, Rosa," replies Hugh Noir with a smirk.

Rosa pouts and turns back to her Xtransceiver. "Okay, Iris! Hugh says he can come too!"

"Perfect!" cheers the purple-haired Champion of Unova with a grin.

"WHAT?!" yells Hugh. "When did I ever agree to this?"

"Just now," replies Rosa cheerfully. "We'll see you at the Gala tonight, Iris!"

"Okay! The Champion plus one!" calls Iris to someone off-screen, causing Rosa to wince at the title. "Really, it's a great deal of work throwing a random party," she confides to Rosa with a sigh. "I'm so glad Cilan and his brothers are helping out, otherwise I'd be dead. See you!"

There is a click, and Iris is gone. Rosa dumps her Xtransceiver onto the couch and turns to her rival. "Back to the main problem," she declares with a scowl.

"Hey, wait a sec." Hugh raises an eyebrow. "So, if the Champion is throwing a party, what does that make you?"

"The Champion who gave up the title," replies Rosa flatly. "Stop with the distraction techniques."

"Damn, you got me." Hugh slumps onto the couch with a sigh. "Can we not talk about this anymore?"

"No," replies his brunette friend as she drags the coffee table across the room to the side and shoves the couch Hugh is still sitting on against the wall. She picks up the tall plant that stands next to the couch and moves it into a corner, effectively clearing out a huge space in the middle of the living room.

"What are you doing?" asks the blunette, raising an eyebrow as he watches Rosa relocate all of the living room's furniture.

"I'm gonna teach you-ouch!"

Rosa trips over the edge of the rug, and Hugh stifles a snicker.

"-how to dance!"

"Rosa, you can't be serious." Hugh stares at his best friend with an expression of muted horror. "You are the single most uncoordinated person I know, and that's even including the time that Nate tripped over the piece of string on the floor at that party and spilled a cup of punch all over Nancy."

"Lack of coordination doesn't make you unable to perform a decent ballroom dance." Rosa dusts off her hands and stands in the center of the room with an outstretched hand and an expectant expression.

Hugh glares at her, crimson eyes whirling with exasperation and faint embarrassment. "Rosa, you're not going to teach me how to dance."

"Try me." Rosa adopts her best deadly-serious expression, complete with scowl and stern eyes.

Hugh sighs resignedly. "You're not going to let this go, are you? You can't just accept that I can't dance, so you should probably go ask a Gym Leader to be your arm candy instead of me?"

Rosa abruptly drops the serious expression and cracks up laughing. Her melodious giggles fill the room, and the scowl on Hugh's face lessens a bit as he asks, "What's so funny?"

"You're not going as arm candy, you silly!" responds the brunette, still giggling slightly. "I'm taking you because I like you and you're my best friend!"

"O-oh." Hugh curses the slight blush that has appeared on his cheeks sometime after the words "I like you" and attempts to slow his heart back to a normal pace.

Rosa grins at him and grabs his hand. "Come on! This'll be fun!"

Hugh sighs resignedly and allows himself to be tugged to his feet. He does not, however, refrain from a snide comment.

"Sure. Fun."

"Yay!" cheers the brunette, her whole face lighting up.

"So, what exactly does ballroom dancing entail?" asks the long-suffering Trainer dully. "And isn't it supposed to be the guy who teaches the girl how to dance?"

"Details, details." Rosa scoffs and waves a hand. "The guy is supposed to go on the Pokémon journey to be the Champion and the girl is supposed to chase him and constantly kick his ass, but look what happened to us."

"You're an actress and I'm a freelance PWT-er," replies Hugh, amused despite himself. "Touche."

"Exactly!" Rosa beams at him. "But I can still kick your ass in a Pokémon battle, just so you know," she adds.

"For someone babbling about distraction techniques, you sure get sidetracked a lot," Hugh teases his best friend.

Rosa blushes. "Sh-shut up!"

"So, back to this dancing thing," says Hugh with a smirk. "What were you going to teach me?"

* * *

"That was not a twirl!" yells the brunette. "What type of clumsy execution was that? Again!"

"I'm beginning to think you just like the twirling part," mumbles Hugh under his breath with a scowl as he twirls his best friend and catches her in a marginally less clumsy hold.

"Actually, I love twirling," replies Rosa cheerfully. "But!" she continues, face turning stern again, "I will not have Rosa's Dancing School belittled by poor execution in public. Again!"

"Um, Rosa, don't you think you're getting a little too into this whole 'dancing school' thing?" tries Hugh. Sure, it was comedic an hour ago, but when his best friend insists on being addressed as Dance Master Rosa…

"That's DANCE MASTER ROSA to you, peon!" retorts the cerulean-eyed girl. "Take it from the top! One-two, one-two, one-two! LET'S GO!"

Hugh sighs. "If you insist."

The two start dancing again, Hugh rather clumsily at first.

"You know," remarks the cobalt-haired teen after a minute or so, "Dancing is just an odd combination of the cha-cha and flailing your arms around like a crazy person in slow motion."

Rosa snorts. "How am I supposed to keep a straight face when you say things like that?"

"I'm sorry," replies Hugh with a smirk. "Shall I practice my conversational sayings?"

"By all means, please do," replies Rosa, putting on her best Shakespearean accent.

Hugh grins. "My dearest Rosa, how dost thou fare today?"

"Uh…I fare-eth fine…?" attempts Rosa, and Hugh snickers as he twirls her effortlessly. _Huh. This dancing thing isn't so hard, I guess._

"Nice try. You never did read any of those plays on your bedroom shelf, did you?"

"'Course not," replies Rosa conversationally as she takes a step back and prepares for another twirl. "My mom bought all those at a book sale in Floccesy and put them there hoping I would get bored of the books you lent me."

"That reminds me, you never did give those back." Hugh grins at Rosa, and she flashes him a slightly sheepish grin back.

"Um…Serperior ate them…?"

"Oh sure, blame the grass snake," scoffs Hugh as they shuffle back across the room. "By the way, do you happen to have vertigo?"

Rosa blinks, confused. "Uh, no, don't think so…Why do you ask?"

"Oh, no reason." Hugh shrugs offhandedly before dipping his best friend in the center of the living room.

Rosa shrieks in surprise as her world turns ninety degrees. "Hugh, what are you _doing?"_

"I've wanted to try that for a while, actually." Hugh grins mischievously at the brunette.

"Please don't drop me," pleads Rosa, a bit breathless from the dip _(and because Hugh looks so intense, but she's never going to admit that.)_

"Wouldn't dream of it," responds Hugh distractedly _(because Rosa is most adorable when she is confused, and she is confused in ten different types of ways right now.)_

* * *

By now, their faces are mere inches apart.

* * *

"Dreaming is different from doing," blurts Rosa, terrified of both the ground beneath her and what may or may not be happening right now.

"You're the one with balance issues, Rosa," replies Hugh, and then he kisses her.

* * *

She falls first.

And true to his word, he catches her.

* * *

fin


End file.
